Parallels Server 5 Bare Metal Installation via PXE Server Copyright © 1999-2011 Parallels Holdings, Ltd. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Parallels Holdings, Ltd. c/o Parallels International GMbH. Parallels International GmbH Vordergasse 49 CH8200 Schaffhausen Switzerland Tel: + 41 526320 411 Fax: + 41 52672 2010 www.parallels.com Copyright © 1999-2011 Parallels Holdings, Ltd. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. This product is protected by United States and international copyright laws. The product’s underlying technology, patents, and trademarks are listed at http://www.parallels.com/trademarks. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server, Windows NT, Windows Vista, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Apple, Mac, the Mac logo, Mac OS, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, FaceTime HD camera and iSight are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the US and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................... 5 Preparing for PXE Installation ................................................................................... 7 Choosing Servers ............................................................................................................ 7 Installing Software on the PXE Server .............................................................................. 8 Configuring the TFTP Server ............................................................................................ 9 Setting Up a DHCP Server ............................................................................................ 10 Setting Up an HTTP Server ............................................................................................ 11 Configuring the Parallels Server ..................................................................................... 11 Installing Parallels Server 5 Bare Metal .................................................................. 13 Creating a Kickstart File .......................................................................................... 21 Standard Kickstart Options ............................................................................................ 22 Parallels Server Bare Metal Kickstart Options ................................................................. 23 Creating a Local Repository for Parallels Virtual Automation Components ............................. 27 Kickstart File Example ................................................................................................... 28 Copying the Kickstart File .............................................................................................. 29 Starting Installation ........................................................................................................ 30 Index ........................................................................................................................ 31 Introduction Introduction This guide provides information on how to install Parallels Server 5 Bare Metal over a network using a PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) server. You will learn how to perform two types of Parallels Server Bare Metal installation in a PXE environment: • Manual installation. When performing this kind of installation, you are asked questions by the Parallels Server Bare Metal installer and define the necessary installation and configuration settings. Manual installation is recommended if you plan to install the product on a small number of physical servers. • Unattended installation. In this kind of installation, the Parallels Server Bare Metal installer uses a special kickstart file to determine the necessary installation and configuration settings. Unattended installation assumes that no interaction is required on your part and is recommended if you plan to install the product on a multitude of physical servers. To install Parallels Server 5 Bare Metal over a network, you need to complete the following steps: 1 Prepare for installation from a PXE server. 2 Create a kickstart file. This step is only required if you plan to automate the procedure of deploying Parallels Server Bare Metal on your servers. 3 Install Parallels Server Bare Metal. All these steps are explained in the following sections in detail. 5 Preparing for PXE Installation Preparing for PXE Installation First, you need to prepare your network environment for a PXE installation. This procedure includes the following steps: 1 Choosing servers for the PXE installation. 2 Installing the necessary software on the PXE server. 3 Configuring the TFTP server. 4 Setting up a DHCP server. 5 Setting up a HTTP server. 6 Configuring the Parallels server. All these steps are described below in detail. Choosing Servers First, you should decide on the servers that will participate in the PXE installation. In general, you need these servers: • PXE server. This server allows your Parallels servers to boot and install Parallels Server Bare Metal over the network. Any server capable of running a Linux operating system and having a network interface card (NIC) can play the role of a PXE server. • DHCP server. This is a standard DHCP server providing computers on your network with the necessary network settings. You can use an existing DHCP server, if you have one, or set up a DHCP server from scratch. In the latter case, you can install it on the PXE server or use a dedicated server. • Parallels server. This is the server where you will install Parallels Server Bare Metal. This server must meet the requirements described in the Preparing for Installation chapter of the Parallels Server 5 Bare Metal Installation Guide. In addition to the requirements listed in this chapter, the server must have a NIC with PXE support to be able to boot from the PXE server. • HTTP or FTP server. This server will store the Parallels Server Bare Metal installation files. This guide assumes that you will store the installation files on an HTTP server and use HTTP as the installation protocol. 7 Preparing for PXE Installation Installing Software on the PXE Server Next, you are supposed to install the necessary software on the PXE server. First of all, you need to install a Linux operating system on the server. There are no specific requirements for which operating system to use, so you can choose any (e.g., CentOS 5 or Fedora 12). Once your system is up and running, install the following packages: • tftp-server • httpd • syslinux • dhcp (This package must be installed only if you plan to deploy the PXE and DHCP servers on the same physical server.) Assuming that your PXE server is running an RHEL-like operating system, you can use the yum utility to install the packages: # yum install tftp-server dhcp httpd syslinux 8 Preparing for PXE Installation Configuring the TFTP Server In the next step, you need to configure the TFTP server that you installed in the previous step. To do this: 1 On the PXE server, open the /etc/xinet.d/tftp file, and edit it as follows: service tftp { disable = no socket_type = dgram protocol = udp wait = yes user = root server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd server_args = -v -s /tftpboot per_source = 11 cps = 100 2 flags = IPv4 } Once you are done, save the file. 2 Copy the following files to the /tftpboot directory (if this directory does not exist, create it under the root (/) directory): • vmlinuz • initrd.img • menu.c32 • pxelinux.0 These files are necessary to start the Parallels Server Bare Metal installation. You can find the first two files in the /isolinux directory of the Parallels Server Bare Metal distribution. The menu.c32 and pxelinux.0 files are located in the syslinux installation directory on the PXE server (usually, this is the /usr/share/syslinux or /usr/lib/syslinux directory). 3 Create the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg directory, and inside this directory, make the default file. 4 Open the default file for editing, and add the following strings to it: default menu.c32 prompt 0 timeout 100 ontimeout PSBM menu title Parallels Boot Menu label PSBM menu label Install Parallels Server Bare Metal kernel vmlinuz append initrd=initrd.img noipv6 ksdevice=eth0 9 Preparing for PXE Installation Pay attention to the timeout parameter. Its value, in units of 1/10 s, defines the time for displaying a boot dialog box. During this time, you will need to select the entry for Parallels Server Bare Metal and press Enter to start the installation. For example, if you use the example above, you will see for 10 seconds the Parallels Boot Menu dialog box that will display the entry Install Parallels Server Bare Metal. Selecting this entry and pressing Enter will start the Parallels Server Bare Metal installation. For more information on parameters you can specify in the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file and their configuration, see the documentation for syslinux and its man pages. 5 Restart the xinetd service: # /etc/init.d/xinetd restart 6 Configure your firewall on the PXE server to allow access to the TFTP server. Setting Up a DHCP Server Now you can proceed with configuring a DHCP server. If you already have a DHCP server in your network, you can use this server. Otherwise, install it using the standard installation procedure. To configure the DHCP server for installation over the network, open the dhcpd.conf file (usually, it is located in the /etc or /etc/dhcp directory) for editing and add the following